I did not die of malaria

I'm sorry to have not laid that fear to rest a while ago, but there's been a lot going on which has made writing about it even harder to keep up with. I'm also working on uploading pictures so even typing in this box is wearing this poor computer past its most extreme level of endurance. But I think I'm learning a lesson of all columnists, that you have to keep on schedule or you lose your readers! I hope that you all are still checking this site out.

The first big event occured on the day that I wrote the last post. I was awoken by my roommates at 5:45am because they were about to leave on a field trip down the coast (I was still in bed trying to recover and eventually did laundry and wrote on the blog). They told me that I should pack my things- as orientation winds down it became time for the sexes to be separated. At the end of the day, the three boys would be moving down the way to Legon Hall, the all male dorm while the girls stayed in Volta, the all female dorm. Those who have known me for a while know that I used to indulge in the guiltry pleasure of watching Survivor in its earlier seasons, and this speedy request to pack all of my belongings was definitely reminiscent of a Jeff Probst moment.

The set up is a pretty good one. There are 6 California males on the 4th floor of Annex A of Legon Hall- 3 new this semester and 3 who are staying for the year. Climbing up the stairs in the heat of the day is a feat worthy of a nap with the fan on, there are always people at the ground level selling water, ice cream, eggs, bananas, and whatever else for the day. It is much noisery than the women's dorm as Ghanain men tend to greet each other early in the morning by shouting each other's names back and forth at maximum volume. In addition to the music playing, the birds outside making a racket, and the cheers/shouts/"encouragement" from the atheletic fields just below our windows, 'lively' doesn't begin to express the atmosphere. Thank God for earplugs. Here's a quick virtual tour:


The first thing's first: This is Cybertron Internet, the cafe from which I've written most of my emails and blogs posts. As you approach the hall, there is a large room called the porter's enterance. On the right is this cafe, and on the left are University employees who hold your keys when you go out, monitor security at night, etc. I don't interact with those ones much because our Annex A has its own porters.


Walking past the porters and internet cafe, visitors to Legon hall are greeted by this statue and a fountain. I'm always a bit peeved when the foundtain is running because we have water in the bathroom roughly 10% of the time. That's why I study resource management :-) The comical nature of this rooster at the front of the all male dorm has not ecaped any of us, so we lovingly refer to it as the cock fountain




Continuging past the fountain down this walkway, you can see my building in the distance (white between the two palm trees). It's very green here for having just finished the dry season.



My humble abode- I share this room with Aaronson (see the trip to Makola maret where we bought buckets for a picture). This is just a preliminary decoration setup, but I thought it encompasses the most important things: a mosquito net, a full bookshelf, a cluttered desk and a chair, not to mention the all important fan- I don't know if any of us could survive without them! I haven't fully unpacked my things, perhaps relating to the metaphorical challenge of "unpacking" in a new place.


This is the view from my balcony- just wanted to show off the greenness again. I'll keep you updated about changes to the decor, and keep writing about the other sites on campus tomorrow (on Ghana time- so maybe the day after). I'm thinking about you all often. Take care